Gundam 00 — Episode 9
This episode is a pretty good one because we are finally seeing some semblance of actual combat tactics being employed. Also, it has some character development for Felt, which is good. (But maybe not. Refer to the last line of this entry.)
It’s a Haro harem!
Louise and Saji do make an appearance in this episode, but thankful it is a short one. Dear Sunrise, please hurry up and kill them already! :(
Summary
We jump to about four months since Celestial Being began their armed interventions. They have since conducted over sixty attacks. Although the AEU and Union pledged to defend themselves against Celestial Being’s intervention, there has been no large-scale battles since Moralia. Mostly because Gundams pwn everyone too quickly.
The only power bloc that has declared its intention to actively crackdown on Celestial Being is the Human Reform League. Sergei has formed a new special task force with a rather silly name (chiobu? lol) to annihilate Celestial Being, steal its Gundams and sexually violate its bridge bunnies. (Maybe not the last part.)
His plan involves using billions of dollars of tax money to send out tens of thousands of communication devices to form a network in the area around the orbital ring. Since GN particles disrupt communications, all the HRL task force has to do is to see which communicators are malfunctioning in order to pinpoint the Gundams’ locations. Sergei’s a fricking genius!
And in no time, HRL manages to locate Ptolemaios. This means that Ptolemy does indeed give off GN particles, which seriously begs the question of why it needs Gundams for energy. Perhaps GN drives and solar furnaces are two different things after all.
The Battle Plan
Oh my god! A real battle plan! This makes the Seikai fanboy in me squeal with delight.
Immediately after they receive a hit on their spanking new networked detectors, the HRL task force launches an assault on Celestial Being, making it the first time so far in this series that Ptolemaios has come under any threat.
The HRL task force identities three separate regions where communication has been jammed. The first one is of course Ptolemy. The other two are actually Kyrios and Virtue which are scrambled as diversions after the Ptolemy crew realized that their location has been compromised.
HRL transport vessel
The HRL force consists of four multi-purpose transport vessels loaded with mobile suits. The vessel type codename is written as ラオホゥ in katakana, so it’s probably either Raohou or Laohou. I’m guessing it’s 牢厚, but I’m not sure.
According to Sumeragi’s plans, Kyrios and Virtue (top and bottom) are meant to be obvious diversions. She is hoping that the enemy will see through it and therefore ignore them.
Following that, she plans to have them circle around from the back and, together with Exia and Dynames which remain on Ptolemaios, form a classic pincer attack.
Unfortunately, Sergei is a fricking genius! He responds with his own diversion by sending two empty transport vessels to engage Kyrios and Virtue. Sumeragi doesn’t know that these two vessels have already unloaded their mobile suits and by the time she realizes it, it is too late for her to change her plan.
Unknown to the Ptolemy crew, the entire bulk of HRL’s mobile forces are actually concentrated around the two transport vessels heading towards them. Ptolemy, pinch!
Sergei’s tactic is brilliant on many levels.
Most importantly, the first move that he anticipates Ptolemaios to take upon realizing that it has been discovered is to head to the solar energy generator satellites. This is because the satellites give off electromagnetic radiation that interferes with communication, thus camouflaging the interference caused by the ship’s GN particles. And Sumeragi does indeed take that course of action. This is a fatal mistake because it cuts off Ptolemy’s communication with Kyrios and Virtue, allowing Sergei to lay an ambush for all three of them.
That said, Sumeragi is amazing too.
Within seconds of observing the enemy’s course of action, she deduces Sergei’s entire plan and even identifies him as the commanding officer in charge because he used the same tactic 18 years ago during the Fourth Solar War. Like seriously, how the heck can she do that? Of course, it’s too late by then as Ptolemy has already lost contact with Kyrios and Virtue and cannot tell them to head back.
I’ll leave the rest for you to appreciate when you watch the episode.
Speaking of Seikai, this episode does indeed give off the Seikai vibes. Ah, how I miss space combats fought in the two-dimensional planar universe with space-time bubbles and automated mines… Please for the love of Haruhi, watch Seikai no Monshou/Senki if you haven’t already. It’s one of the greatest sci-fi epics ever, according to me.
I digress. Moving on.
Screencaps
Lockon in a suit
Lockon visiting a grave
Lockon’s twin(?)
Evil(?) twin(?)
“Nice ass.” “Which one?”
Louise’s mother
Levitating earrings
Half the headline picture is a rooftop
Does she ever smile?
Representatives from the United Nations
DUN DUN DUN DUN!
OMG Felt is crying! T_T
Don’t come any closer you pervert!
My name is Neil Dylandi (no, really; that’s his real name)…
…and I am a child sex predator
What the hell is with that homoerotic blush?
Glow-in-the-dark Ptolemy
The peach ironman!
She doesn’t fire a single shot in this episode
I am kind of disturbed by the character dynamics between Felt and Lockon aka Neil… Felt, stay away from the abunai oniichan!
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:37 am
Lockon is definitely now A CHAR.
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:50 am
“China will grow larger.” Lol, CnC Generals, Chinese bulldozer.
Lockon has a brother? This could be a REALLY interesting spin off.
And the task force name is chiobu (it means pretty lady in hokkien dialect for non-sg fans)??? ARE YOU SURE????
Lockon likes Felt. That is cute. Felt is such a INTJ and Lockon is such an ENFP, a perfect fit. And they like Haros.
Also, is the grave Lockon visiting his father’s grave? I remember reading from somewhere that his dad died in a terror attack, and I think that what causes him to hate terrorism so much.
P.S Where did you get the raw from?
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:56 am
Hey I am offended you thought those were good tactics. Haha, you must not have real life combat experience unlike us manly soldiers!! Unless of course you’re being sarcastic.
It is stupid to distribute your forces when you’re outnumbered and your enemy wants to capture your troopers. Also when the mother ship is unarmed. Considering how one Gundam can overpower at least 20 MSes on its own, surely it would be safer to stick in a group, when not all Gundams are at full strength and the ship needs protection and you don’t know how many enemies there are.
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:59 am
I am offended that you didn’t even read the post properly. I was complimenting Sergei. I didn’t say anything about Sumeragi other than her inhuman ability to identify Sergei by name from a single formation.
And yeah, an army journalist would know how to do it right. ~_~
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 am
I think it’s 老虎 (laohu) - tiger.
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:34 am
HRL has some lousy taste for combat suits. I thought that those ugly tube respirators were bad enough, but they now have their super soldiers dressed for a more friendly alien interception.
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:43 am
lol “China will grow larger.” but i rather think Sergei is mixed blood between Chinese and Indian or sort like that judging from his appearance, since HRL is composed of China, India and part of Russia.
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 am
BladeOfNether:
Sergei is actually from Russia. Sumeragi said so in the ep. He is aka “The Russian Bear”. Why? Maybe cuz of the scar on his eye.
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 am
If you enjoy watching tactics / counter-tactics like these, the you owe it to yourself to watch Starship Operators, if you haven’t already.
The sequence you described reminded me more of SSO (risky tactics involving deception) than Seikai (typically ’safe’ strategies, often with minimization of friendly losses in mind)